Education
'Several victims' as school bus crashes and plunges into a ditch in France
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'Several victims' as school bus crashes and plunges into a ditch in France Seventy people were reportedly involved in the crash which saw the bus hit a tree in a ditch in the Lent area, south of Bourg-en-Bresse A school bus crashed into a ditch in eastern France with 'several victims', officials have said. French broadcaster BFM TV initially reported that two people had died, however, a spokesperson for the civil protection agency told the broadcaster he could not confirm the deaths. The bus...
'Several victims' as school bus crashes and plunges into a ditch in France
Seventy people were reportedly involved in the crash which saw the bus hit a tree in a ditch in the Lent area, south of Bourg-en-Bresse
A school bus crashed into a ditch in eastern France with 'several victims', officials have said.
French broadcaster BFM TV initially reported that two people had died, however, a spokesperson for the civil protection agency told the broadcaster he could not confirm the deaths.
The bus carrying school children crashed this morning in the Lent area, south of Bourg-en-Bresse, at around 7am. Yves Cristin, the mayor of Lent, Yves Cristin, said that seventy people were "involved" in the incident and that the bus "left the road and hit a tree in the ditch".
The bus was carrying 43 people in total, including 15 minors. A spokesperson for the Civil Security service said two people were in "cardiac arrest and require "extensive medical and rescue operations".
Education Minister Edouard Geffray confirmed that the crash involved a school bus. In a statement he said: "I cannot begin without first expressing my thoughts for these students and their families. For us, it is always a difficult experience when our students, when our children, are victims of accidents of this nature. "
The incident involved an intercity bus route in the Lent area, according to local officials.
Emergency services raced to the scene and the public has been urged to stay away from the area. Traffic diversions have also been put in place.
Two helicopters have been dispatched to the crash site to airlift injured people to hospital. A Civil Defense spokesperson said: "Their mission is to quickly extract the victims and take them to a trauma center or a specialized hospital for serious injuries"
French MP Laurent Wauquiez said he was "deeply moved" by the bus accident. He added: "My thoughts are with the injured and their families during these hours of worry. Thank you to the emergency services and caregivers mobilised to be by their side. ".